Saturday, June 01, 2013

More than One Hundred Forty Characters

I read recently, on the Godson's twitter feed (he linked to the What Ed Said blog), that "The less frequently [you] write, the more difficult it is to get going again." That is what I have been running into lately. The culprit, besides the dreary, overcast we've had lately, is social media.

I've been thinking about this for a while. I used to peruse random blogs and I started noticing that, since the popularization of Facebook and Twitter, the number of post have gone down for a lot of people. I think it has become easier to post 140 characters or less on a social media site than it would to put together a more substantial post. It is easier to post a picture from your phone to Instagram than to post it to a blog.

I have fallen into that trap. I dismiss ideas as not blogworthy and they end up on Facebook. I joined Facebook in February 2009, the last year that I posted over 200 posts. My posting has declined since then with the only exception being 2011 when I posted all my Camino, Route 66, and California vacation posts. It's strange how, since having what I think of as the most interesting summer ever back in 2011, my life has become routine. I think of things to write about but, as I think about them more, they start seeming unimportant, something to put up on Facebook or Twitter rather than on Homer's Travels. If I weren't on Facebook and Twitter I probably wouldn't hesitate to throw together a little throwaway post that would at least keep me writing.

It hit me the other day when I posted the picture of an eagle that was flying over the house. I posted it on Facebook, not Homer's Travels. In my head that was so ... so wrong. This really doesn't make sense. I have it set up to automagically post links to my Homer's Travels' posts to Facebook and Twitter. Any idea or picture, however insignificant, should just be put on Homer's Travels and it will end up everywhere else with no effort on my part.

So that's what I am going to do. I will predominantly post on Homer's Travels. Maybe putting together shorter posts will inspire me to write longer, more significant posts. Maybe I'll think of more things to write about than just feet and walking, the themes that seem to be coming to mind lately. Maybe I'll move past the summer of 2011 and I will see what is around me and make the best of what I have.

Twitter is so much better than facebook! I find that I have trouble thinking about what to write in a blog post. It's much easier to type "Blerg!" and be done :) But I agree, it's good to write and express yourself clearly.